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A T riassic seed with an angiosperm‐like wind dispersal mechanism
Author(s) -
Axsmith Brian J.,
Fraser Nicholas C.,
Corso Taryn
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
palaeontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1475-4983
pISSN - 0031-0239
DOI - 10.1111/pala.12049
Subject(s) - biological dispersal , whorl (mollusc) , seed dispersal , gymnosperm , biology , botany , mechanism (biology) , evolutionary biology , genus , physics , demography , population , quantum mechanics , sociology
The earliest record of a seed with a pappus‐like, parachute seed dispersal mechanism, E denia villisperma gen. et sp. nov., is described from the U pper T riassic of the eastern U nited S tates. The seed is small and roughly triangular. Clusters of long hairs emerge from a whorl of at least five circular scars just below the proximal end. This morphology indicates that the hair clusters represent modified lateral structures similar to the pappus of several eudicot angiosperm groups, but probably representing a case of convergent evolution of a similar structure in a gymnosperm. The seeds are usually found isolated, but one specimen indicates that they were born tightly packed together on an axis. A few earlier records exist of dispersal hairs, but this is the first clearly indicating a pappus‐like structure. Although the exact affinities of E denia are uncertain, this seed demonstrates that plants with highly advanced wind dispersal mechanisms occurred at least 55 million years earlier than previously thought.